Obtaining molybdenum powder by metallothermy of its compounds in a sodium chloride melt

The reduction conditions of the oxygen compound of molybdenum to metal powder using aluminum and magnesium in a sodium chloride solution are investigated. A thermodynamic evaluation of the reduction reactions is given. It is found that, in order to end up with a 95–97% yield of the powders, an excess of ∼30% of the reducing agent with respect to the calculated one is necessary. In this case, the content of impurity elements does not exceed 3%. The influence of obtaining conditions on the granulometric characteristics of the powder is established. It is shown that powders with a larger specific surface (64.4 × 105 m−1) are formed with the use of aluminum in concentrated solutions of the starting compound in the NaCl melt.